


Close

by wanderingsmith



Category: The Expendables (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-17 11:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2308373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingsmith/pseuds/wanderingsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Are you flirting, Barney?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Close

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me for this. As it is thought, so let it be said; you make the toys, I play with 'em.

"Are you flirting, Barney?"

Barney chuckled, leaning back in his comforter and taking another sip of beer, "No, if I was flirting, you'd know. 'Cause I'm awful at it."

Maggie grinned invitingly, "Ah. I, am *not* so awful."

A slight flinch rippled across Barney's features and he looked regretfully at the woman he'd made no secret of hoping to be friends, and nothing more than friends, with, when she'd shown up to help them a second time, "Maggie..."

Maggie immediately straightened in her seat, the invitation dropping from her expression to be replaced with regret of her own, "I apologize. I thought, since you now *know* me anyway... And the guys said you were not.. involved."

Neither said anything through a few minutes of silent calculating stares, the only sound in the dim, silent room from the late night traffic outside. "..I'm not."

Maggie nodded with a sad but knowing smile, "Who is she?"

Barney shook his head at the automatic curiosity, replying to the sad half-smile in kind, "No matter how much people talk about 'equality', it's still always 'she'."

Maggie froze for a noticeable moment, then laughed, saluting with her bottle, "True. Do you know what the first thing most of my female friends complain about men is?"

"..We can't commit?"

"That is second. First is 'they are always gay'. The good ones that is." She raised a half-teasing, half-curious brow, "Do you also find this?"

Barney snorted, giving her a wry stare, "In the days when I actually *tried* to... get some, it was women I went after. Nowadays, I'm not interested in playing either field. But with my luck, I'm sure I'd end up finding all the straight good ones."

Maggie watched him thoughtfully for a bit, then asked very quietly, "And is *he* gay?"

Barney looked up from staring at the half-torn-off wrapper on his bottle and watched her expressionlessly before finally answering, "No." He relaxed, too controlled to be anything but forced, shrugging with a fake careless grin, "I'm too fucking old for him anyway, deserves better."

Maggie nodded sadly before tilting her head, "Perhaps you could introduce us." 

The accompanying smirk said it wasn't meant seriously, but Barney answered anyway, "If you'd hit it off, I'd have wished like hell that you'd met a year ago. But it doesn't seem you're each other's types."

Maggie hesitated, eyes narrowing as she thought, "We have met? ...One of your men?"

Barney shrugged with a self-deprecating grimace, "Yeah. Not too smart, I know."

She watched him carefully, "You have good taste in *men*, as well." When he jerked a suspicious look at her, she shrugged, "I assume you would rather we had met in the past because he is now taken. Unless I was very unobservant, only one of them is married. He is.. nice." she grinned gently, "And very pretty."

Barney froze, then forced his jaw to unclench, "Yeah."

"You do not approve of his wife."

"She's going to break his heart. Wouldn't approve of that for anyone. Wish you *had* hit it off."

Maggie watched him go back to staring blindly at his empty bottle, "*He* is close."

Barney never looked up, "Yeah."

Maggie suddenly met Lee's eyes, making him twitch, having not thought either occupants of the darkened apartment were aware of his entry. Now she stared hard at him and, considering what he'd just overheard, he couldn't help feeling that she was warning him. Liking her better than he had just a little while ago, he gave her a nod and raised his overnight bag in an attempt at silent explanation for his apparent eavesdropping.

He took a step back into the hallway to the door as Maggie stood, slugging the last of her beer, "I should go."

"Sure." Barney made to get up with her, making Lee tense.

"I can see myself out. No need to try to find your feet for such a foolish reason."

"If you're implying I'm drunk..."

She laughed, "Perhaps not drunk, but if you are too old for him, then you should not volunteer to get up more often than you must."

Snorting, Barney threw her the finger, "Get lost, Mags."

She grinned impishly, obviously taking the insult as the sign of friendship that it was, "Good night, Barney."

Lee straightened when she came level with the hallway corner he'd frozen in on hearing them discussing flirting. 

He'd only planned to wait and see if he should interrupt with an insult or get his shoes back on, slip out, and leave Barney to mess up his relationships on his own. But then the rest of the conversation had kept him frozen in place.

Her voice was almost soundless, which Lee figured aught to keep Barney from hearing, half around a corner and with traffic sounds still coming from the road, and she overemphasized her lips enough to make it easy for him to read, "You will not break his heart?"

He'd had a couple minutes to at least get over his shock at what he'd heard, so he was able to respond calmly, just as silent and clear, "No. I'm... done with her. And no, not on the rebound; I knew what I was setting myself up for. My pride just wouldn't let go." He heard Barney shift behind her and watched as the man let his head fall back on his recliner; heading toward sleep, if Lee knew him at all. "I wouldn't break his heart."

She nodded, patted his arm with a last warning glare and walked out.

The click of the door was loud in the silence and Lee tried to come up with a plan. Find his balls, walk over... kiss him? He smirked at himself: only Barney got away with dumbass plans like that.

Still smiling, he stepped into the room, hoping not to get a gun pointed in his face, at least.

Barney had let himself go half-asleep now that company was gone, but hearing a footstep jerked him awake. Before his hand could slip to the gun secreted between the cushions, his slightly sloshed brain identified it and he relaxed back, not particularly inclined to play host for his old pal, "Christmas. When did you-" Oh shit. Now he was wide awake, his voice going quiet enough to be noticeable, "Get here."

He heard the familiar thump of the brit's travel-bag a few feet into the room, then those light steps heading toward the kitchen behind Barney. 

"You want another beer?"

"No." His stomach was twisted into a knot as it was, and he refused to fuck his closest friendship up because he'd had another drink. He could fuck it up fine without that.

He almost jumped when a familiar hand landed on one shoulder and squeezed as a water bottle appeared over the other, a beer bottle neck sharing the hand-grip.

Taking the offering, he slowly twisted it open as he watched Lee take Maggie's place in the ratty old armchair in front of his own. He was braced for.. something. Something unpleasant and painful. Something more to regret for the rest of his sorry life.

He wasn't braced for same old down-time easy-going, cheerful Christmas taking a slug of beer and then meeting his eyes with a familiar laughing warning look, "I am *not* heartbroken. You were right about her and I knew it. My pride was being stupid. It has now bowed out to reason. I told her to keep the apartment, it's in her name anyway. The guy even looked like a decent sort, so I wish 'em the best." Then he serioused up, raising a brow with a trace of hesitation, "I was going to invite myself to crash on your couch..."

Breathing calmly through nothing but will, Barney briefly looked at the piece of furniture in question, then back at his old friend, beginning to wonder if maybe he *hadn't* heard. Maybe luck was actually on his side, for once. "Told you long ago you're welcome to whatever you want, Christmas." 

'Not a good way to live' He knew Maggie was right about that. And Lee was already too close to keep safe. Fuck, this wasn't the first time he stepped in front of danger without anger or adrenaline... He faked casualness and took a swallow of water, "There are more comfortable places than the couch."

Was that.. yeah, there was definitely something new to the look in Lee's eyes. Intense like a lot of Lee's looks. Focused, controlled, shielded...but Barney could *swear* that was... 

"You're not *that* bad at flirting."

That was.. fucking *interest*. I will be dipped in shit. 

Barney refused to think what the look on his own face had been in response for Lee to feel the need to give him *that* gentle a smirk before putting his beer down, getting up, and stepping to lean on the arms of Barney's chair. "And you are *not* too fucking old for me. You may be a slightly more broken down war horse than I am, but I bet Maggie would agree with me that you're still hot."

Well shit.

His reflexes took exception to 'broken down war horse' and he had a grip on the smooth back of Lee's skull and was settling the water bottle down before the bastard finished the teasing, tugging -against no resistance whatsoever; daaamn!- him down; bright eyes, stupid wide smile and all.

"Sure you remember how to do this?" Knees landed on the chair with the words, bracketing his thighs, and he got both hands on Lee's ears and pulled those lips all the way down to his. 

Close enough that trying to outstare Lee made him cross-eyed, Barney smirked, breath catching like.. like a damn *kid*, when their lips brushed. "I even got a plan."

The plan hadn't been to have the team's kickboxer sit his weight on Barney's thighs, lay his forearms on the top of the chair they were sharing ..and kiss him so fucking soft that Barney forgot the feeling of being caged-in; almost before he noticed it.

Fuck if he knew what he'd done to deserve this, but it turned out he wasn't near self-sacrificing enough to say no.


End file.
